ACLU Defies Its Name

According to a WorldNetDaily article today, the national ACLU has suspended the entire 14-member board of the ACLU of New Mexico chapter.

What was the offense? One of the board members, Clifford Alford, is forming a Minuteman group in New Mexico. And this has upset the national ACLU.

WorldNetDaily states:

Gary Mitchell, a Ruidoso attorney and president of the ACLU board of directors, said the suspension of the southern chapter was a technical move to make sure the leader of the New Mexico Minutemen, a civilian border patrol group, no longer had authority to act or speak on behalf of the ACLU.

"We will not tolerate racism and vigilantism in the leadership structure of our organization,'' Mitchell told the Albuquerque Journal. "They are repugnant to the principles of civil liberties and the mission of the ACLU.''

Did the ACLU even ask their members who staked out the Minuteman project in Arizona whether or not those Minutemen behaved like racist vigilantes? Exactly which principles of civil liberties were violated in Arizona? And which principles do they expect the New Mexico chapter board member and his group to violate?

Alford has said he's not a hateful vigilante and that he would like to see immigration policy reformed. He has said that if the federal government allowed more immigrant workers to enter the country legally, many problems on the border would be solved. He reportedly scouted the New Mexico-Mexico border two weeks ago for sites to station his 42 volunteers to detect illegal immigrants sneaking into the country. His group plans to offer food, water and medical aid while reporting the illegal immigrants to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Alford sounds pretty "civil" to me. He is apparently a man who believes in the ACLU's guiding principles, or he wouldn't be a board member. That the national board can be so hostile to him so quickly is surprising. It emphasizes the ACLU's knee-jerk reactions to so many issues.

"We are not going to tolerate anyone depriving anyone of liberty without due process of law, not going to tolerate vigilante groups on the border without speaking out against them and without monitoring," Mitchell said.

So the ACLU believes that when the Minutemen hang out by the border and report the whereabouts of non-Americans who illegally cross the border, that constitutes depriving someone of liberty without due process of law. They seem to overlook the fact that when the US Border Patrol arrives to take the illegal border-crossers into custody, this actually is "due process of law." And the vast majority of these people crossing the border already had liberty in the countries they are trying to leave.

The dictionary defines "vigilante" as "One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands." What the Minutemen do is not vigilante activity. They leave the law enforcement to the proper law enforcement authorities.

Alford said the dust-up is the result of a lack of understanding about how the Border Watch group plans to operate. He said the ACLU didn't ask questions, "just attacked."

The ACLU, therefore, is mis-named. They do not support American interests at the border. They are not civil to people whose activities they oppose. They mis-apply the meaning of liberty to people who are not entitled to it in our country. And they are not very unified, since they are willing to suspend whole chapters of their organization without discussing the issues first.

Durbin Gets Support

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for including a link to the Minneapolis Star Tribune's editorial on Senator Dick Durbin's comments about Gitmo.

A lot has been said about Senator Durbin's comments, by the Left and the Right, and this issue doesn't look as though it's going to be fading any time soon. To recap, Durbin--on the floor of the Senate--quoted an email from an FBI agent, and the email is unconfirmed, uncorroborated, and under investigation. The email, in part, said, "On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold . . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees."

What fascinated me most in the Strib's editorial, beyond their full embrace of everything Durbin said, was their statement near the end.

"The senator [Durbin] should stop apologizing and keep up the criticism of the hellhole America's military has created at Guantanamo."

If Guantanamo is a hellhole, what's it doing with air-conditioning?

Terri Schiavo XII

Kevin McCullough's column today in WorldNetDaily is must-reading for anyone who followed the Terri Schiavo case, especially if you've been disappointed or confused by the mainstream media's analysis of the autopsy results. Typical is the headline in the LA Times when the autopsy results were released: "Schiavo Was Beyond Saving, Autopsy Finds."

"Beyond saving" is not what the autopsy said, unless what the LA Times means by "saving" is a return to what she had been before the incident that caused the brain damage.

McCullough lists the family's response to the autopsy:

The family maintained:

1. The report confirmed her condition and disability. (It did not make the claim that Terri was terminal or in any way in danger of becoming terminal.) The report confirmed that Terri was brain damaged and not brain dead, it also indicated Terri could have lived another 10 years or longer with basic care.
2. The autopsy did not reveal anything regarding "Terri's choice" to be dehydrated to death.
3. The autopsy made it clear that dehydration was Terri's cause of death and not her brain injuries.
4. The autopsy confirmed that Terri's heart was strong and working well.
5. The autopsy ruled out bulimia and massive heart attack as the cause for Terri's injury. (It did nothing to account for the 70-minute gap from when Terri originally collapsed and when Michael originally called for help.)
6. With bulimia ruled out, according to the autopsy results, the case for Michael's malpractice suit has been completely undermined. (The parents believe that Michael should return the monies won on this claim.)
7. The autopsy showed that Terri's struggle to swallow was not from a permanent vegetative state, but from muscle atrophy. (Of course, being denied 12 years of therapy might have had something to do with that atrophy).
8. The autopsy showed that persistent vegetative state is a clinical diagnosis made on a living individual and a medical examiner can not make this determination by examining a corpse.
9. The autopsy stated that Terri was given morphine for pain. This ran in contrast to the claims that Mr. Felos made consistently that Terri would experience no pain or discomfort.

It's too bad the mainstream press continues to print only the viewpoint of the right-to-die crowd. Terri deserved better, and someday maybe you or I will deserve better too.

A Little Catching Up

It's time to catch up on the things that have caught my eye but have had to make room for the time-sensitive stories. In no particular order:

Baseball

When I was a kid, I was a St. Louis Cardinals fan, and one of the great things that happened was when the Padres moved into the National League. That meant that we could actually see Bob Gibson pitch, Lou Brock steal base, and all the other Cardinals play right before our very eyes in San Diego. My dad knew that the Cards pitched Bob Gibson every third game, so he'd wait until just before they came to town, check to see when he pitched last, calculate three games forward, and buy tickets for that game. I don't remember his plan ever failing.

But that was a long time ago. I grew up, got married, had kids and lost track of baseball. I seem to recall that the Cardinals left St. Louis. Or was that the football team?

Meanwhile, I listen to Hugh Hewitt's radio show most days on the internet at work. Usually it's on KRLA's live feed, but lately the network at work has had trouble connecting to KRLA's feed, so a couple days ago I remembered that KCBQ (San Diego) also has the live feed for the show. That's where I listened to Hugh yesterday and today. The local news has included mention of who the Padres will be playing, and they said "Detroit." Now, that sounded odd, because I remember Detroit being in the American League. Today, they said it again and also said that the Padres would be playing the Twins next. Another American League team.

Did they move the Padres to the American League? Did they completely rearrange the leagues as they've brought on new teams? I went to google and looked for major league baseball and found a list of the teams by League, and I was right about which teams were in which league.

Next, I hunted for a man at work who follows baseball. Jack told me that the teams play a number of games with the other league's teams, and he said they've been doing it for two years now. He even said it's pretty popular. I tried to make sense out of how the win/loss records might be affected, but it was too much for me at the end of a long day at work.

Today ended up being a reality shift for me in the baseball universe, and it's unsettling (like the earthquake we had today). Needless to say, I'm not a sport.

Progress in Robot Technology

There was an article yesterday in Live Science about an advance in robot technology made by NASA scientist, Vladimir Lumelsky. They're developing "skin" for their robots with over 1,000 infrared sensors. This helps the robots "feel" the obstacles they encounter, so they can decide what to do about it. The long-term goal for the skin-coated robots is for use in space.

Pretty cool.

Voyager I Leaves the Solar System

This one is a little older (May 25, 2005). AOL News reported that Voyager I has reached the region where the influence of the Solar System ends. But the article has so many terms for regions of space out there that I wasn't sure exactly when Voyager left us.

To refresh memory, Voyager I & II were sent on their missions in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn, and it's from them that we got the photos of Saturn casting a partial shadow on its rings. It's also from them that we learned that Jupiter also has rings. Voyager II headed over to Uranus and Neptune, while Voyager I kept on going.

According to the article, "Astronomers tracking the little spaceship's 26-year journey from Earth believe Voyager 1 has gone through a region known as termination shock, some 8.7 billion miles from the Sun, and entered an area called the heliosheath." My friend, the astrophysics major probably understands this statement.

I've lived through times that saw our view of our world change drastically. We went from an earth-bound existence to a world that sent men into space, men who circled the moon and, for the first time ever, saw the earth as something small rising over the edge of the dark side of the moon. We sent Voyagers and Mariners to show us, close up, unimagined wonders of planets we could only have speculated about before.

And now Voyager is crossing another boundary to give us, hopefully, more wonders in the years it has left. I wish it godspeed.

Ya Think???

Here's a news flash: Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president, has admitted, "[It is] possible that, at times, Iran has not reported its [nuclear] activities." (emphasis added)

I never would have believed it, that Iran's regime could possibly be... deceptive!

Seriously, I never would have believed it, that Iran's regime could possibly ever admit deception. Of course, Rafsanjani continues, "But from the time Iran decided to make such reports, it has made everything transparent." Now, that's the Iran that we know so well.

This report is from The Scotsman (full story here) (HT: WorldNetDaily), which also explains Rafsanjani's promise that if he's elected in tomorrow's presidential election, he would continue to pursue Iran's nuclear program, but only for peaceful purposes.

Yeah, right.

Senator Dick Durbin Over the Top

During my two-hour commute this morning (flipped-over semi blocking traffic lanes), I got the chance to listen to lots of Laura Ingraham's radio show. She played a longish soundbite from yesterday's Senate proceedings, featuring Senator Durbin (D-IL). The debate was on the energy bill, and Matt (or was it Lee?) watched three boring hours of it, until the last senator for the day, Sen. Durbin, took the floor. He spoke for a time on the energy bill then went on to make comments about the situation in Guantanamo Bay.

Here's what Laura's website has to say about Durbin's remarks:

"DURBIN COMPARES U.S. INTERROGATIONS TO POL POT AND NAZIS! Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), speaking on the Senate floor, described our interrogation practices at Gitmo (keeping the 20th hijacker cold or hot, or playing of loud rap music) as akin to something that "happened by [sic] the Nazis, Soviets in their Gulags, or some madman regime like Pol Pot." Not only is this absurd and hideously inaccurate, but Durbin's comments makes our military's job more difficult, and encourages anti-Americanism around the world. Thanks, Dick. Tell him what you think by calling his Senate office at (202) 224-2152."

I echo Laura on this. Tell him what you think by calling his Senate office at (202) 224-2152.

When the Democrats go this far, they paint themselves into a rhetorical corner. If turning the air-conditioning to the detainees' cells up or down and playing rap music, while feeding them well, constitutes Nazi/Gulag/Pol Pot behavior, what's left for them to call it when we do something really mean?

The overall reaction from normal Americans (those whose feet aren't planted firmly in the Loony Left) seems to be, "What! Is that all we're doing to the detainees? They should get worse." Only the Far Left sees Pol Pot inside our soldiers at Guantanamo Bay.

Tell Durbin what you think by calling his Senate office at (202) 224-2152.

Rumsfeld on Gitmo

Hugh Hewitt just played Donald Rumsfeld's speech on Guantanamo Bay (report of his talk here). The statement that jumped out at me was that we spend more money, per person, to feed the Gitmo detainees culturally appropriate meals than we spend feeding our troops.

The Lefties, as represented by their "Human Rights" groups really frost my chaps! The latest from Amnesty International has been to declare Gitmo a gulag.

Gulag, my eye! I wonder if Stalin's gulags fed their prisoners Lemon Fish/Orange Chicken, Rice Pilaf, and Vegetable Medley. Stalin probably fed them even better, since Gitmo is so horribly, wretchedly cruel.

Great post on this by Brian Cox at BYR Blog. He says, "I wonder if those people who talk about shutting down Guantanamo to help with our image have figured out that the same people who are attacking us now over Gitmo will just pick another prison or another target to complain about. Once we've shut it down it will be open season on our military. They will have learned that all it will take to shut down a military prison is a few complaints about a woman standing too close to them. That is not a message we should be sending."

Here's what some other folks had to say: James Lileks. Mark Steyn. Michelle Malkin.

State Wars

Virginia vs. Massachusetts

There's an article in the London Times online edition (HT: WorldNetDaily) about one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown. The body of a man believed to be Bartholomew Gosnold was discovered in 2003 in the Jamestown site in Virginia. He organized and financed the three-ship expedition to the New World, as well as being captain of one of the ships. This venture led to the founding of Jamestown in 1607.

What makes this news is that archaeologists believe they have located the grave of Gosnold's sister, Elizabeth Tilney Gosnold (did the British put a woman's married name in the middle and leave the maiden name at the end back then?) in Suffolk, England. They are exhuming her body to do a DNA match in the hopes that this will identify Bartholomew's body.

According to the Times, "It is the first time that Anglican authorities have granted permission for a grave to be opened in a British church for scientific research." We won't have the answers any time soon, though. "The results of the dig will form part of the 400th anniversary celebrations in 2007 of the founding of America."

But way down at the end of the article is this little jab at Massachusetts from Matt Erskine of the Virginia Governor's office: “It was an English-speaking capitalist venture and Jamestown was the birthplace of modern America. Bartholomew Gosnold was such an important member of it and was one of the six original governors of the colony. The Mayflower didn’t arrive for another 13 years.”

Yes, the Virginia colony of Jamestown (1607) beat out the Massachusetts colony of Plymouth (1624). Yes, Jamestown was a capitalist venture, and America theoretically practices capitalism. But the heart and soul of what America is can be found in the Plymouth colonial desire for religious freedom and its sister goal of helping others freely. We can trace America's finest traditions--the structure of our Republic, our love of freedom, our desire to help other nations during their times of suffering--to the founders and early citizens of Massachusetts.


Colorado vs. Minnesota

The blogosphere has been giving coverage to The Great Quarter War. In fact, David Harsanyi (HT: Hugh Hewitt), of the Denver Post, has chimed in as well, with his chronicle of events (full story here), which only contributes to uproar, particularly this quote: "While Colorado's new auarter design is hardly exhilarating, we should be grateful that it's less atrocious than the design from an inferior state, like, say ... Minnesota."

Although Harsanyi doesn't mention it, the war was started on Hugh Hewitt's radio show (Hugh's take on it here). Hugh has a knack for instigating rivalry between the governors he books on his show, while at the same time shamelessly soliciting meaningless titles from them to add to his collection. The titles that come to mind include: California's Sommelier, Colorado's Warden of the Collegiate Peaks, and most recently, Gymnasiarch of the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.

Radioblogger has the transcript of the original conversation with both Colorado's Governor, Bill Owen and (separately) Minnesota's Governor, Tim Pawlenty (transcript here). From this, the conclusion is clear: Colorado started it.

The controversy: Our commemorative quarter is better than yours! Colorado's quarter is to have a mountain range and the motto, "Colorful Colorado." Minnesota's quarter is to have some low hills with trees, some fishermen in a boat, a loon (often mistaken for Minnesota's state bird, the mosquito), and an outline of the state, with the motto, "10,000 Lakes." Radioblogger currently has a poll at the top of his blog that anyone can participate in. He also has updates here, here, here, and here.

Personally, I prefer Colorado's quarter, although I must agree with James Lileks, as quoted in the above transcript (his comments are between the two governors' comments). It is a bit odd to have a monochromatic mountain range on a quarter declaring the state "Colorful."

Wars have been fought and won over lesser ideals. Let the Games begin--or rather, continue...

Jacko Verdict

Michael Jackson was declared Not Guilty by a jury of his peers earlier today. This isn't news to anyone who was conscious this afternoon.

Hugh Hewitt's comment was that Martha Stewart must be angry to be just about the only famous person to be convicted in a long time.

Actually, Martha Stewart's conviction is proof that she is merely famous, and not a true celebrity. Michael Jackson is a celebrity. OJ is a celebrity. Even Robert Blake is a celebrity. But Martha isn't.

The truth can be found in "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" in the courtroom scene. Whoopi Goldberg, as Judge Cameo, has this factual tidbit:

And you, Mr. District Attorney, I'd like to point something out to you in the penal code. Section C, Paragraph 22. "Celebrities are above the law." This case is dismissed.

Therein lies the explanation for the Michael Jackson verdict. 'Nuff said.

Two More Justices Confirmed

The LA Times reports that Wednesday the Senate approved Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (full story here), after two years of waiting. She is the second of the three nominees promised in "The Deal" to get an up-or-down vote. (See previous posts on The Deal here and here.) Priscilla Owen has already received her vote (here and here).

That left William Pryor, and today he was also confirmed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals (full story here). Pryor had also been waiting for confirmation for two years, although he was given a recess appointment by President Bush in February of 2004.

I was impressed with the fairness of the LA Times article, written by Times Staff Writer, Maura Reynolds. There were quotes from both sides of the aisle, and although the lefties' quotes seemed a bit longer, overall the article presented both sides of the Brown controversy accurately. This was unexpectd, considering the source.

CNN, however, was quick to add opinion-based speculation to their news article: "By ending the filibusters of Pryor, Brown and the now-confirmed U.S. Appeals Court judge Priscilla Owen, the Senate has taken care of the first part of an agreement reached last month by Senate centrists that averted a showdown that could have brought Senate action to a halt."

So, according to CNN, if the Senate were to have voted whether or not to consider a filibuster of judicial nominees off limits, that vote could have "brought Senate action to a halt." I agree that the vote could be considered a "showdown" since a showdown is just what the Republican leadership had in mind. But a vote does not stop the Senate. Voting is what the Senate is supposed to do.

Any bringing the Senate to a halt would have to be the intentional action of Senators themselves, and so far the only ones threatening to do that are Democrats.

My other problem with the CNN article is their labeling of the 14 who made The Deal as "centrist." Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chaffee and their ilk are hardly centrists. They're RINOs--Lefties with an "R" at the end of their names--and to characterize them as centrists is to do true moderates a disservice. But CNN's agenda appears to be that of portraying anyone who sides with the hard-liner Dems as being the reasonable ones. It won't wash.

Ultimately, these two votes, combined with Priscilla Owen's confirmation a couple weeks ago, put us precisely where The Deal's rubber meets the road. The three named judges have had their votes. What remains now is to see how the Democrats--especially those who signed The Deal--handle the rest of the filibustered judges. Will they get votes, or will the Dems be surprised (shocked!) to discover that the remaining judges present extraordinary circumstances worthy of continued filibuster?

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on perpetual filibuster.

Raining Frogs

First, it was exploding toads (link here). Now, it's raining frogs (full story here). I don't know if it's safe for amphibians anywhere.

According to News24.com (South African Press Association), thousands of frogs fell from the sky in Odzaci in northwestern Serbia during a storm. The good news is that the frogs survived. "The frogs, different from those usually seen in the area, survived the fall and hopped around in search of water."

Belgrade climatologist Slavisa Ignjatovic said, "A wind resembling a tornado can suck in anything light enough from the surface or shallow water. Usually it is just dust, but sometimes also larger objects."

What Ignjatovic doesn't explain is how frogs can stay alive up in the clouds long enough to travel to a place they don't belong. And how long would that take? And where is the nearest natural habitat for these frogs?

And someday soon, are the environmentalists going to declare Odzaci, Serbia a protected area because the frogs are in small enough numbers there that they're endangered in their new location? If this happened in the US, you could count on it.

At Home Now

My family descended on my parents' house in Small Town, Montana (pop. 2500). I drove up alone from Southern California in two days, while my sister, her husband, and their 16-yr-old daughter drove up from Texas. We got there Monday night (Memorial Day), and their oldest son had already arrived from his Navy base in the Northeast. The next few days saw my brother and his wife come from Massachusetts, my dad's sister from North Carolina, my sister's other Navy son come from the East Coast, and finally my kids flew in from California.

My parents' church was wonderful! They had meals for us scheduled to come every day through the night before the memorial service, and one couple became the taxi service that drove into the Big Town airport an hour away at least once a day to pick up whoever was flying in.

It was good to see everybody all together at the same time, and I even got into a disagreement with my aunt over our country's response to 9-11. She believes that Iraq was beyond a mistake and should never have happened, because it left Afghanistan unfinished and in a mess. I argued (gently, I hope) with her, and when we finished, I told her I appreciated having a discussion with someone I disagreed with, because it's been years. It helped me realize which things I knew and which things I only assumed. I knew what I was saying about the current state of Iraq, but I didn't know what's happening in Afghanistan. The milblogs I read are primarily out of Iraq, so I've got some reading to do about Afghanistan before I talk to my aunt again.

The memorial service for my dad was more than I could have hoped for. I knew, as I drove through Utah, that I would be the one of the three of us kids who would have to speak at the service. My brother and sister are the shy ones in the family. Or rather, I'm the non-shy one. Naturally, for me, I waited until the day of the memorial to figure out what I would say.

I talked about my Daddy and who he was to me, and even as I said some of it, I could see people nodding, because that's the man they knew as well. I said he was a man who did what was right. And he was a man who didn't push his views on people, but asked them questions that drew out the best of who they were and helped them to find their own answers. As a teenager, his questions drove me nuts, but since I grew up and especially since my divorce, I counted on his questions to help me sort out my life. Most of all, he was a man of faith. He prayed and he studied the Word of God, and he lived out his life in service to his Lord.

It was one thing for the family to know who he was, but it was a real joy to hear what people outside the family said about what Daddy meant to them. One woman, who had stayed with my parents for a couple years when they lived in Washington, flew all the way from Australia to be at the memorial service. She said that her childhood hadn't been good, that she had grown up not knowing what a good marriage looked like. But her two years with my parents had shown her what marriage can be, the way a husband should treat his wife. And my dad's questions had helped her to open up and talk about her childhood and her life in a way that helped her to heal.

His questions were a theme running from one friend who spoke to another. Those questions helped a recovering alcoholic to stay sober and to find healthy ways to deal with the challenges of life. Those questions helped a young woman break free from the discouragement that held her back and gave her the confidence to believe in herself.

Several others spoke of Daddy's servant heart. He was a quiet man, not very tall, but he was a big man. And the impact he had on the people who knew him was profound.

I'm going to miss him, and I know I can't begin to imagine how much. But it's my mom I'm most concerned about. My prayer for her is that she would learn all the way to the depths of her heart that she is loved for who she is and not just because she was Daddy's wife.

Everything Changed

I spent the day at the zoo with three friends, taking pictures and trying not to spend too much money. We looked at the reptiles on the way to the sea lion show, then saw monkeys, gorillas, pandas, and the underwater bellies of ducks in the hippo exhibit. Polar bears, gazelles, boars, and sleeping wallabies. It was a fabulous day, not too hot for walking in the sun.

As we waited in line for the sky ride to take us back to the zoo exit, I got a phone call from my sister. My mom had come home from her volunteer time at the thrift shop and found my dad in the driveway, dead. He hadn't even been sick.

It's all different now. My mom has always been the communication link in the family, but my dad was the strength and wisdom. I counted on him to help me with the hard questions in life: What to do when my income was chopped in half and I was losing sleep over my finances. What kind of career change to make and what the timing should be. And now, should I fly up for the funeral, or drive? He would know--or rather, he would help me to realize that I knew.

Suddenly, judicial nominations and politics and a culture going astray have all jumped into the back seat. In my life, they pale in comparison. My Daddy is gone, and my mom is hurting, and nothing else really matters to me right now.

Posting will be very light for the next couple weeks.

Judge Priscilla Owen Followup

OK, so it's more of a prequel than a followup.

In May of 2001, I went to Washington DC to the National Day of Prayer event being held there at the Cannon House Office Building. The National Day of Prayer Task Force is headed up by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson (who is, himself, probably more hated by the Hard Left than all of the world's evil dictators combined).

It was a wonderful morning, filled with strong Christian speakers and inspiring music. The keynote speaker was Chuck Colson, first of Watergate infamy, now head of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Following his talk and some words by Shirley Dobson and Dr. Dobson, the event moved into the heart of why we were there: Prayer.

Each branch of the government was given time. The government branch had a representative speak on what it's like to be part of that branch and what the needs (especially prayer needs) are for the people who work there. Then a member of the clergy came up and led prayer for that branch of the government.

Mel Martinez, then Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, spoke for the Executive Branch. I don't remember who spoke for the Legislative branch. An Admiral was supposed to speak for the military, but wasn't able to make it, so he sent the Navy's Chaplain Barry Black. Chaplain Black didn't speak so much as he preached! But that's another story (and he is now out of the military and serves as the Chaplain of the Senate).

Speaking for the Judicial branch was a judge from Texas that I'd never heard of before, but I remembered her name after that day. Priscilla Owen.

I don't remember the exact things she said (it's been four years), but I remember how impressed I was with her. She was articulate, confident in the things she said, and seemed to be a strong, godly woman. The prayers she desired for the judiciary were for wisdom and for faithfulness to the law and to the work of the courts. No requests for specific decisions or directions for the courts to take. Just that they would do their jobs well.

I was so thrilled, shortly after the National Day of Prayer, when I heard that she had been nominated by President Bush to one of the Circuit Courts. And it's been so disheartening to hear the way this faithful judge has been dragged through the mud by agenda-driven Democrats in the Senate. She did not deserve what the obstructionist have done to her. No doubt (to me) her faith is what has given her the strength to hang on through all of it.

I salute her steadfastness and look forward to the way her presence on the federal bench will be felt.

Judge Priscilla Owen Confirmed

The Senate confirmed Priscilla Owen to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on a vote of 56-43 (full story here on Bloomberg.com). Republican Lincoln Chaffee voted against her, Democrats Robert Byrd and Mary Landriew voted for her, and Democrat Daniel Inouye didn't vote (HT: Fox News). All four of these Senators were involved in The Deal.

The Bloomberg story quotes Sen. Frist, "I am now hopeful but wary,'' said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican. "Standing firm for the principle of fair up or down votes, we have made real progress.''

I don't know if I completely agree with Frist. I am wary and not very hopeful. It's one thing to get a vote on one of the three that The Deal promised a vote for. It's quite another to see what comes after the three have had their votes.

Frist says they've "made real progress." Pardon my pessimism, but the "progress" has only brought us forward to four years ago, when Owen was nominated and should have received a vote. I'll wait a while before I'm ready to declare real progress.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the 5th Circuit Court, for finally gaining this strong, fair, non-activist judge.

New Airline

Too bad I'm not rich. This new airline looks really cool!

According to the London Telegraph, Fly First is aiming for the Concorde niche in the airline market. The airline would have two Boeing 757-200 planes that would have four cabins of twelve seats each. That's 48 passengers on a plane normally configured for 228 passengers.

The seats would be capable of becoming flat beds. There would be changing rooms, phones, fax machines, and maybe internet access.

The price tag? A mere £3,360 ($6,142), if I'm reading the article correctly. It says, "Passengers, having paid £3,360 for the return flight, will be chauffeur-driven to Luton airport, will arrive 45 minutes before take off at 6.45am. They will land at Newark airport, a short distance from Manhattan, at 9am - ahead of other European flights." So it's possible the round-trip cost is double that. Oh well, if you're rich, I guess it doesn't matter.

This is all academic at this point, because the head of the new company, Hamish Taylor, still needs to raise the capital (£25 million by June 10) to get the airline in business. Once that happens, they only need to average 25% capacity on their flights to break even.

Still a Lousy Deal

I came into work, booted up (which automatically logs me onto AOL Instant Messenger, which automatically pops up the day's news headlines), and saw this article by Jim Abrams of the AP.

Headline: "Senate Averts Fight Over Filibusters." Unfortunately, I wanted that fight. I wanted the Senate to settle, once and for all, that legislation gets filibustered and nominees don't. Simple.

But not for Senator McCain (RINO-AZ), who held the secret meeting in his office to hammer out "The Deal."

The AP story opens with, "Judicial nominee Priscilla Owen gets the vote she's been awaiting for more than four years, the most immediate beneficiary of a deal worked out by Senate moderates to avoid a debilitating fight over filibusters."

Check out that last part of the quote again. Media bias is showing. This was not a "debilitating fight." The rules reinterpretation was poised to go through today, and when it did, the change would have been debilitating to the obstructionist Democrats.

Later in the article, Abrams says, "But of greater import, the deal on the rights of the minority party to filibuster judicial nominees avoids a showdown that could have shaken the traditions of the Senate, weakened the powers of the minority and threatened the comity the Senate needs to function."

This sentence is chock-full of Democrat Talking Points. The traditions of the Senate have never, before President GW Bush took office, included filibustering majority-supported judicial nominees. Supreme Court nominees, even the embattled ones like Clarence Thomas, have never been filibustered.

As for weakening the powers of the minority, that's just plain stupid. Our nation believes in majority rule, not minority rule. But the Dems, through the use of the filibuster against nominees, have sought to thwart the will of the majority and instead institute minority rule in the Senate.

And "the comity the Senate needs to function"? Please. The Democrats have shown that they don't give a rip about comity, friendliness, congeniality, or just plain being nice. "Comity" is a sharp stick to poke at the Republicans when it suits the Democrats' purpose, but it is not something the Dems have been interested in actually having themselves.

But larger questions and issues remain.

Why did the the squishy Republicans do this? Considering that the negotiations took place in McCain's office, it would appear he was the ringleader. My guess is that McCain has a Savior Complex. He wants to be the one to bring salvation to the Senate, to get the glory for resolving the bitter divisiveness over the filibuster. Because, if McCain gets the glory, then Frist doesn't, and that could mean something in the 2008 presidential election, when both of them will likely be seeking the the Republican nomination.

What does this mean to the Republican caucus in the Senate? Trouble. With a capital "T." McCain and his groupies have just declared that they refuse to recognize their own elected Senate leadership. They have rejected Senate Majority Leader Frist as their leader, and have implicitly named McCain as the Senate Squishy Leader. Frist remains the nominal leader of the Senate Republicans, but he no longer commands the majority of the Senators.

McCain, Snowe, Chaffee, DeWine, Collins, Graham, and Warner have thwarted the will of the people in a huge way. This abandonment of the Senate leadership will have repercussions far beyond just the judicial filibuster issue. Just wait and see.

Update: I just contacted the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the organization that helps Republican Senators get re-elected. I told them I'm not going to contribute anything to them (I contributed in 2004), because I won't take the chance that some of my money could go to any of the Senators who signed The Deal. I'll be contributing to individual campaigns in an attempt to unseat these Senators.

Demon Tobacco

Whatever happened to Demon Rum?

I saw this (HT: WorldNetDaily) from the Texarkana Gazette (by Jim Williamson, slightly edited, link here) and couldn't believe the conclusion:

FOREMAN, ARK.--A 38-year-old Winthrop, Ark. man was hospitalized after jumping out the passenger window of a vehicle traveling an estimated 55 to 60 mph to retrieve his cigarette late Saturday, an official said.

Jeff Foran was riding in his friend's 2000 Dodge Stratus about 10 p.m. Saturday near the Arkansas-Oklahoma border when the cigarette he was smoking blew out the vehicle's front passenger window, said Arkansas State Police Trooper First Class Jamie Gravier.

Foran jumped out of the vehicle to retrieve the cigarette and hit the pavement, causing facial trauma.

The driver of the car, Jerry Glenn Nelson, 44, of Haworth, Okla., was asked by Foran earlier in the evening to be Foran's designated driver, Gravier said.

Foran was to drive Nelson to his residence in Winthrop.

"Foran did the right thing and asked his buddy to drive him home. Foran showed up at Nelson's home about 45 minutes earlier saying he (Foran) was too intoxicated to drive home, Gravier said.

"Nelson said Foran was smoking a cigarette when it blew out the window and Foran jumped out the window to retrieve the cigarette. Nelson said he was driving between 55 and 60 mph when Foran jumped out," said Gravier.

Foran was lying on the pavement bleeding profusely from the nose, eyes and chin.

"He also had a substantial case of road rash (abrasions from sliding on the pavement)," said Gravier. "It was obvious he was extremely intoxicated and this man was hurt."

No charges were filed and Gravier had no information Sunday afternoon on Foran's condition.

"If anything could make him stop smoking, this should be it. The man is lucky to be alive," said Gravier.

"If anything could make him stop SMOKING?" Since when did smoking cause anybody to jump out the window of a car at 55 mph?

No, the problem is Foran's heavy drinking. It gets to me how much we've demonized smoking, to the point that otherwise intelligent people mistake it for the cause of other problems. If Foran wasn't a smoker, but was holding a pencil in his hand and dropped it out the window, it'd be a fair bet that he'd have jumped right out after it and wound up in the same condition.

Naturally State Trooper Gravier would have said, "If anything could make him stop holding pencils, this should be it."

Come on! Foran was extremely drunk, which made him Extremely Stupid.

I hope Foran gives up drinking. I don't care if he gives up smoking--chances are it won't be what kills him.

By the way: No, I don't smoke, never have, don't have anybody in my family who does, and I think it's a disgusting habit.

Senate Makes a Lousy Deal

This is the end of too much!

The Senate moderates have made a deal over judicial nominations, and it is fit for words I do not use. Hugh Hewitt has the essential text (here). A pdf, with signatures, of the full text is here.

The signatories, as well as I can tell (some are illegible) are: Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mike DeWine (R-OH), J [illegible], Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Lindsay Graham ? (R-SC), Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI), John McCain (R-AZ), John Warner (R-VA), Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Olympia Snowe ? (R-ME), Ken Salazar (D-CO), completely illegible.

Here's what the Republicans (and the President and his judicial nominees) get: "Votes for certain nominees." Three of them. Janice Rogers Brown, Pricilla Owen, William Pryor.

Here's what the Democrats get:

(1) Henry Saad and William Myers get thrown over a cliff--make that, they get left hanging with no guarantee of ever getting an up-or-down vote.

(2) Future nominees will be subject to filibuster, if the Democrats consider that there are "extraordinary circumstances," with each Senator using his or her discretion to decide when things are extraordinary.

(3) "[W]e commit to oppose the rules changes in the 109th Congress, which we understand to be any amendment to or interpretation of the Rules of the Senate that would force a vote on a judicial nomination by means other than unanimous consent or Rule XXII." The "we" at the beginning of this point are the signatories, above. In other words, for the entirety of 2005 and 2006, none of these Senators who signed this deal will vote to prevent the minority party from holding judicial nominees' up-or-down votes hostage.

Let's see how this balances out: The Republicans, whom the majority of American voters put into power so the President's policies and judicial nominations can get acted on, get three judicial nominees voted on. The Democrats, whose obstructionist tactics were soundly defeated at the polls this past November, get darn near everything they want, including the right to filibuster whomever they want to, and the Republicans agree to roll over and play dead.

The Republicans who signed this "deal" have, in so doing, signed their own political doom. I know I'm not alone in determining to oppose all of these Republicans in their next bid for re-election. They have screwed over the people who elected them for the last time.

Update: The corrected list of signatories to The Deal includes Joe Lieberman (D-CT) as "J (illegible) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI) as "completely illegible." (HT: Andrew at ConfirmThem)

Pepsi Implosion

Let me start by saying that I don't understand the appeal of Mountain Dew. This whole Pepsi thing is bringing out the closet and not-so-closet Dew addicts. Irish Pennants, Write Wing Conspiracy, and one of the callers to Hugh Hewitt's show have confessed their addictions--and I've only scratched the surface of bloggers blogging on the subject.

And the subject is: Pepsico. Or rather, the commencement speech that Indra K. Nooyi, President and Chief Financial Officer, gave at Columbia University Business School (full text here). In this speech, she compared the five major continents (Australia & Antarctica were the ignored continents) to the fingers of the hand.

First, let’s consider our little finger. Think of this finger as Africa. Africa is the little finger not because of Africa’s size, but because of its place on the world’s stage. From an economic standpoint, Africa has yet to catch up with her sister continents. And yet, when our little finger hurts, it affects the whole hand.

Our thumb is Asia: strong, powerful, and ready to assert herself as a major player on the world’s economic stage.

Our index, or pointer finger, is Europe. Europe is the cradle of democracy and pointed the way for western civilization and the laws we use in conducting global business.

The ring finger is South America, including Latin America. Is this appropriate, or what? The ring finger symbolizes love and commitment to another person. Both Latin and South America are hot, passionate, and filled with the sensuous beats of the mambo, samba, and tango: three dances that – if done right – can almost guarantee you and your partner will be buying furniture together.

This analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents leaves the long, middle finger for North America, and, in particular, The United States. As the longest of the fingers, it really stands out. The middle finger anchors every function that the hand performs and is the key to all of the fingers working together efficiently and effectively. This is a really good thing, and has given the U.S. a leg-up in global business since the end of World War I.

However, if used inappropriately – just like the U.S. itself - the middle finger can convey a negative message and get us in trouble. You know what I’m talking about. In fact, I suspect you’re hoping that I’ll demonstrate what I mean. And trust me, I’m not looking for volunteers to model.

Discretion being the better part of valor...I think I’ll pass.

What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. – the long middle finger – must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand...not the finger. Sometimes this is very difficult. Because the U.S. – the middle finger – sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.

Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand – giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers – but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

That's the crux of her speech, the part that has caused the uproar. America is the middle finger of the world. In both the good and the bad way.

In writing, the strength and lasting impression of a sentence or a paragraph is what is presented last. Nooyi left her listeners with the emphasis on America as "The Bird" not America as the leader.

People are livid. They should be.

Ms. Nooyi has apologized. Twice. Unfortunately, her apologies ring of the "gee, I'm sorry you had to go and get your feelings hurt by what I said" variety. Pepsi's VP of Consumer Relations, Christine Jones, said in the second apology (an email), Indira Nooyi "clearly regrets the reaction that this unfortunate episode has caused."

Yeah, I'll bet. But does she regret what she said? Does she regret slamming the country that has treated her so well? Does she regret not mentioning the good that America does in the world? So far, there's no sign of any appropriate regret.

I went to the Pepsi website, and did a search on "nooyi" and didn't get any matches. On the parent company (Pepsico) website, their Latest News and Press Releases only showed a Mountain Dew promo dated 05/17/05 and a Response to Shareholder Question dated 05/05/05.

To quote Hugh Hewitt, "Where is the CEO?"

Pepsi is going without an official response to this slap in the face of America, but the issue isn't going away. The blogs are posting like crazy, and then some.

Helpful links: Pepsi's products, if you're boycott-minded. Pepsi's officers and directors.

I need a Coke.

MSM Bias Again

The Washington Post's Dan Balz and Shailagh Murray made the following charge in the opening paragraph of their article today (HT: Hugh Hewitt):

"With the Senate poised to open debate on President Bush's appellate court nominees, a bipartisan group of senators carried on furious negotiations yesterday aimed at heading off a constitutional showdown that threatens to poison relations between the two parties and disrupt normal business in Congress."

Where have these journalists been? Buried in a cave trying to get an exclusive interview with Osama bin Laden? Because, certainly, they haven't been following events in the Senate.

There is nothing that threatens to poison relations between the two parties. It's already been poisoned by the minority Democrats, as they obstruct the duty of the Senate to "advise and consent" on the President's judicial nominations.

As far as disrupting normal business in Congress, that would be the Democrats also. They have threatened to bring Senate business to a halt if the Republicans force the elimination of the use of a filibuster for judicial nominations.

The power to head off a constitutional showdown lies entirely with the Democrats. The power to eliminate the poison from the Senate floor lies entirely with the Democrats. The power to allow the normal flow of Senate business lies entirely with the Democrats.

Too bad the Washington Post and its writers don't get it. They continue, "At issue is the extent to which Bush and the Republican majority in the Senate can reshape the federal judiciary and, most important, the Supreme Court, if vacancies occur there."

They say this as though there's something unusual about a majority party (especially one that was largely elected over the issue of the judicial nominations) shaping the federal judiciary. What do the writers think happened while Clinton was in office?

The American electorate put President Bush back in office and gave more of a majority to both the House and the Senate, so that President Bush's policies could be implemented and his judicial nominees could actually be seated on the bench. They did not put the Republicans in power so that the Democrats could control the course of our judiciary and our nation.

The Mainstream Media's bias is showing. Again.

I've Officially Started

Recently I stopped in at Barnes & Noble, and there was a couple finishing up a book-signing. Phil Shrout's book, America at Twelve Miles an Hour: A View from the Edge of the Road, was the story of the summer bicycle trip that he and his wife took a couple years ago. They left the Oregon Coast and bicycled to the Georgia Coast when they were in their early fifties.

I chatted with them, asking how long their trip took, because back when I was in my twenties (Before Children) my then-husband and I rode our bicycles in Western Europe for four months. I was curious to find out how far we might have ridden. Instead, though, they inspired me.

As we talked and I told them a couple stories about what it's like to be on bicycles in France or Switzerland, they were impressed at how much I still remembered from a trip that was over 20 years ago. And I got to thinking...

I could write a book, just as they had.

The idea has been kicking around in my head for the past month. Today, at Quizno's, as I ate my lunch, I opened a Quizno's napkin and jotted down a few notes. These are the first words to hit paper about this book.

It's now official. I've started writing my book.

Buchanan and WWII

This is a mine field. I understand that. But I'm walking there anyway.

Disclaimer: I see Pat Buchanan's commentaries in WorldNetDaily, and much of what he has to say about US foreign policy--particularly Iraq--I disagree with. He strikes me as an isolationist, something I am not. That said...

On May 11, 2005, Pat Buchanan wrote a commentary entitled, "Was World War II worth it?" The focus of the column was on Eastern Europe and what they suffered under Soviet rule after WWII. Was World War II worth it for them? Probably not. These nations were free before the war, and afterward they wore the iron yoke of Soviet dominance and oppression.

Buchanan quoted a speech President Bush gave in Riga, Latvia, as he marked the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe: "For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire. V-E day marked the end of fascism, but it did not end the oppression. The agreement in Yalta followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable. ... The captivity of millions in Central and Eastern Europe will be remembered as one of the greatest wrongs in history."

President Bush was right, and Buchanan was right to quote him. But the accepted lessons of history as it relates to WWII have become sacred, and God help the man who challenges them.

On May 12, 2005, Andrew Metz of Newsday challenged Buchanan's commentary. Metz opens his column this way: "Was World War II worth it?In the inflammatory world view of Pat Buchanan, the short answer is no. The war that stopped the Nazis' global campaign and the mechanistic extermination of European Jewry was actually not worth the effort."

Metz continues, "He did not mention Jews or the Holocaust - the most outrageous omission for Yaffa Eliach, a Holocaust expert and survivor. 'For me it is very important to present the truth, to show the murder,' Eliach said. 'The idea was to kill Jews.'"

This is the sacred history of World War II.

Metz and Eliach are right to criticize Buchanan for omitting the Holocaust from his commentary. But they are wrong to limit the Holocaust to Jews.

The accepted number of dead from the Holocaust is ten million people. The accepted number of Jews killed in the Holocaust is six million. What about the other four million people? Don't Metz and Eliach care about them? Hitler's idea was to kill all undesirables, especially the Jews. But he also killed millions of Poles, Gypsies, handicapped people, and people in the Resistance. Sacred history dismisses these other victims.

Sacred history also ends the analysis of WWII on V-E Day. It ignores the aftermath in Soviet-dominated Europe. According to Anne Applebaum's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Gulag, at least 4.5 million people were killed in the Soviet gulag system. I don't have a count of how many people were victims of non-gulag Soviet oppression in the Iron Curtain countries, but these were also victims of the agreement at Yalta, an agreement that handed free countries to a man that both Churchill and Roosevelt knew to be a killer

Buchanan needs to quit forgetting the Holocaust when he analyzes the value of World War II. And Metz and people like him need to quit having their knee-jerk response of "they killed the Jews" and quit forgetting the other victims.

And all of us need to quit forgetting the past and present victims of genocide and mass bloodlust: The Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks. The Holocaust victims of Hitler. The victims of the Soviet empire. The victims of Chairman Mao's revolution. The Vietnamese at the hands of the communists. The Cambodians under the Khmer Rouge. The Tutsis in Rwanda. The victims of government-imposed famine in Ethiopia, Chad, Zimbabwe. And the Christians and animists dying in Sudan in what the UN refuses to call a genocide.

We need to quit forgetting, because forgetting allows more murder and more genocide.

Harry Reid's Smear Campaign

Laura Ingraham is incensed. This morning on her radio show, she played Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's speech before the Senate in which he impugned the character of judicial nominee, Henry Saad. Laura's website links to a Washington Times article by Charles Hurt (here), which spells out the offensive part of Sen. Reid's speech.

Hurt quotes Reid, "'Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway,' Mr. Reid said on the floor yesterday, about the Michigan Appeals Court judge who is nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. 'All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there,' Mr. Reid continued."

The problem is not what's in Henry Saad's confidential FBI file, but the fact that Senator Reid even knows about it, let alone that he's talking about it on the Senate floor.

As Hurt (and Laura on her show) explains, "Furthermore, a "Memorandum of Understanding" covering the use of FBI background reports limits access to committee members and the nominee's home-state senators. Mr. Reid would fall into neither category."

So Harry Reid has absolutely no business knowing what's in the confidential FBI file on judicial nominees, but he claims to know what's in the FBI file of a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee. And in spite of the fact that Senate rules call for expulsion of senators who "disclose the secret or confidential business or proceedings of the Senate, including the business and proceedings of the committees, subcommittees, and offices of the Senate," Harry Reid has come right up to the line this rule has drawn (Standing Rule of the Senate 29, Section 5), and he may have crossed it.

If Reid has crossed that line, he needs to be expelled from the Senate, or at the very least stripped of his leadership post. And whoever gave Reid access to the FBI file(s) of nominees should be fired. If Reid has not actually seen the FBI file (which he shouldn't have but is implying that he has), then he's a liar intent on slandering and smearing a judicial nominee, and he should be censured and stripped of his leadership post.

The issue here is that Reid has raised accusations against one of President Bush's nominees in a forum and manner that leaves the accused (Henry Saad) completely without recourse. There are no charges that Saad can refute, because Reid didn't spell out anything specific. And because Saad has never seen, and is not permitted to see, the FBI files on him, he has no idea what charges might be in it that he could attempt to refute on his own.

This is an ugly, vicious, mean-spirited, political attack on the part of the Democratic leadership. Where is the outcry from the Republicans? Where is the call for Reid's removal from leadership and the Senate?

And where is the media? The Washington Times covered the story (link above), but CNN is silent, Fox News is silent, CBS News is silent, NBC News is silent, the New York Times is silent, and the Los Angeles Times is silent. ABC News gives it a brief mention at the end of page 2/top of page 3 of their article on the filibuster debates.

ConfirmThem.com has links to the Senate's contact information. Be sure to contact your senator about this, including Majority Leader Bill Frist to urge them to take action agaisnt Senator Reid. Plus, ConfirmThem has the latest on judicial nominees and an easy link to email the 5 key senators who are waffling about whether to change the Senate rules so the nominees can be allowed to come to an up-or-down vote.

President Bush in the Netherlands

President Bush is in the Netherlands to honor the Americans who died during WWII. Naturally, this brings out protesters and activists. As Reuters reports, while most busied themselves actually protesting, one man was hurt on a spiked fence as he tried to photograph the security arrangements.

A group of six activists, however, were busier. They were arrested trying to get into President Bush's hotel to see for themselves the shocking (yes, shocking) fact that President Bush has a "suitcase which allows him to activate nuclear weapons." The activists dressed as "citizen inspectors" in IAEA-like clothing (full story here).

"'We heard Bush carries a nuclear suitcase and can push the red button at any time to set off atomic weapons. We find this extremely shocking,' said Leo de Groot, a spokesman for the activist group."

Where have these activists been? Don't they watch any movies? It's common knowledge that all US Presidents have access to the atomic codes, and Hollywood likes to use this as a plot point in some of their movies.

Weren't these activists upset that President Clinton had access to the codes? Was his access acceptable, but the "Cowboy President" seems like more of a danger to them? Didn't they worry, four years ago, when the codes passed from Clinton to Bush?

You've gotta feel sorry for people who are so out of touch, so out of date, that they're only now figuring out little bits and pieces of reality. Let's just be glad, for their sake, that the activists didn't actually find the suitcase with the codes. The military aides responsible for it might have done worse to them than just arrest them.

State of Affairs

My job has become blog-unfriendly: Too much to do. Lots of pressure. Long hours. Lunch is just enough time to grab something to eat, post the day's Bread, check the news headlines (but not comment on them) and get back to work. Work late. Go home, walk the dog, and crash.

I'm burning out. And the only consolation is that I'm not the only one at work who's burning out. It's pervasive (sigh).

Stem Cell Progress

Another story, this one in The Times of London, about a breakthrough with stem cells. Again, the breakthrough is with adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells.

Sam Lister, Health correspondent for The Times, explains, "A team of British specialists has successfully treated more than a dozen patients with impaired corneas by transplanting human stem cells grown in a laboratory on to their eyes." Out of one group of ten patients, seven had their sight restored, and these were people whose corneas had been damaged by acid or boiling metal in their eyes, or who had congenital defects.

"The process involves taking stem cells, which occur naturally in the eye, and developing them into sheets of cells in the laboratory. These are transplanted on to the surface of the eye where they are held in place by an amniotic membrane, which dissolves away as the sheet fuses to the eye." The really exciting part of this process is that the transplanted stem cells don't appear to stick around. They trigger the eye to repair itself, and then the stem cells are shed from the eye. A year after the process, no trace of the donor's DNA was found on any of the patients' eyes. And this means that the patients would not need the immune-suppressing drugs that are required for standard-transplant patients.

The article concludes, "Nadey Hakim, a consultant surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London, said that it was likely that such action could be mimicked in other organs, thus reducing the need for organ transplants. Professor Hakim said: 'The hope is that stem cells will one day be used to generate large quantities of cells and tissues and possibly entire organs damaged by disease and injury. It is a dream.'”

Meanwhile, as a California resident, my frustration mounts. Every step of stem cell progress has been with adult stem cells (including umbilical cord blood). Embryonic stem cells have yet to prove effective in treating patients without causing severe side effects.

And what kind of stem cell research is California going to be asking its taxpayers to spend $6 billion on? The kind that doesn't work, of course.

Something is Rotten in Denmark

I missed the phenomenon when it started in Germany. Hamburg, to be exact. It seems that Germany has had over 1,000 toads simply explode, and now the toads in Denmark are exploding too. Here's the full story.

This isn't a case of animal cruelty, the way you might expect. No teenagers coming during the night and planting explosives inside the toads. No toad-seeking mini-missiles. According to the story, "Experts are at a loss to explain what is causing the toads' painful deaths, which primarily take place between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m."

"[T]he toads climb on to land, swell to up to three times their normal size, and burst, casting their innards up to one meter in the air, the Coppenhagen Post reports."

The experts, including curator of Denmark's Museum of Natural History, Frank Jensen, expect the cause to be something earthly, like the ozone hole or toxins in the environment. They point out that amphibians are especially susceptible to subtle changes in their habitat.

Let's hope they figure this one out before it spreads any more.

Update:

It looks as though they have figured this out already! Is it toxins? The ozone hole allowing too much ultraviolet radiation to get through? Some other environmental disaster caused by Evil Big Business ruthlessly raping the toads' ecosystem?

No!

It's crows. They've developed a taste for toad liver (full story here). "Based on the wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibian's chest and abdominal cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism." Mutschmann is Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian. "But, because the liver is missing and there's a hole in the toad's body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out, he said."

"Hamburg's Institute for Hygiene and the Environment regularly tests water quality in the city, and found no evidence that the toads were diseased. The institute even ruled out that the toads were suffering because of a fungus brought in from South America."

Still the Institute isn't ready to accept the crow theory just yet. Not until they've actually observed it. If there are more developments, I'll be sure to post them.

Outsourcing

I had lunch today with a few people from my previous job. I haven't seen them in quite a while, but they're working for the company I'm at now, and now that my department has moved to the main headquarters, we had a chance to get together and catch up on all the people we used to work with.

We're all in IT (used to be called DP until they new-and-improved the name), and it's getting pretty dismal out there. One of the guys mentioned the dreaded word, "outsourcing." That's the word that got so much negative press during the 2004 presidential campaign. It became a word that people could only say if they followed it immediately by spitting on the ground. But when he said it this time, it was to point out that the outsource companies in India and China are finding that they need Americans to do a lot of the work.

Meanwhile, the job-loss issue that I see over and over in IT is not outsourcing, but corporate mergers. When two companies merge, nearly all of the headquarters departments at the company being taken over are dissolved. A corporation only needs one payroll department, one accounting department, one IT department. A merger takes two of each of these (and more) departments and throws one of them out on the street.

Over the course of my career (25+ years) I have seen many, many more people downsized or merged out the door than I've seen outsourced. Forget the "peril" of outsourcing. It's corporate consolidation that's the bigger threat.

Happy People/Healthy People

OK, this study (courtesy of the London Telegraph) was performed in the UK, so it's possible that Happy British people are healthier than their unhappy British counterparts. But the results of the study square with what I learned during the course of getting my Bachelor's degree in Psychology--particularly in the Adulthood and Aging class. Our Aging professor lived for research, especially when that research involved trying to find ways to extend not only life, but vibrant, healthy life.

From the studies we looked at, we learned that optimists live longer than pessimists. People who see themselves as having some control over their lives live longer than people who see their lives as entirely outside of their control.

In the famous Nun's Study (link here), they researched a group of nuns in one convent who had grown old together. The researchers had, in the nuns, a common environment and lifestyle, which allowed them to find correlations to longevity (and Alzheimer's, but that's another story) that aren't as easy to find in the general population. What they found was that those nuns whose entrance essays (written at an average age of 22) used positive emotional words were the ones who lived longer. As the study article states, "Taking into account that nuns are less likely to engage in behaviors that are health risks such as excessive drinking and smoking, the authors agree that this may be part of why they lived a long life. But, they argue that 'the phenomenon represented by the use of positive emotion words in early adulthood writings did add years to their lives.'"

The thing that's different about the UK study is that it looked at the subjects over the course of a day, not over the course of a lifetime. The researchers apparently checked the various hormone levels of the subjects as the subjects reported their emotional states.

The Telegraph reports, "The main chemical difference in those who were generally happy was the lower amount of the chemical plasma fibrinogen in the blood, a major predictor of cardiovascular disease risk.

"The happier subjects also had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone related to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. Happy men also had lower heart rates throughout the day and evening, suggesting good cardiovascular health."

This study is encouraging to me because my parents, especially my father, are generally happy people, and so am I. Looks like we just might live forever. I hope you do too.

Uh Oh

Eeek! It's been a week since I posted anything. Too much overtime at work, and it's even been eating into my prime blogtime: lunch hour.

So, what to post on? Important things, like judicial nominations and their blockade by the Senate Democrats? The good news that happy people are healthier? Or life in general?

Chances are, this will take all day in bits and pieces of time, because work is still a pressure cooker. And, the posts will probably be a little of everything.

But. No time right now. Gotta work....

Great Job Opportunity

The Times of London is reporting a job opening for Chief Executive Officer of Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre (HMGCC). James Bond fans would recognize this position as that of "Q," the man whose job it was to invent all those cool gadgets that Bond got to use.

There really is a Q: James Widdowson, the current CEO, is leaving his post and will need to be replaced. According to The Times, "As a result of the war against terrorism the unit’s role and resources have been expanded and the successful candidate will have funds of £27 million at his disposal and be in charge of 425 staff."

Not to mention, the salary. "Whoever is appointed will earn between £90,000 and £100,000 a year and will be expected to provide “inspirational” leadership with experience in cutting-edge technology and a strong sense of integrity."

"While Aston Martins fitted with missiles may be far-fetched, the British ingenuity which has created exploding rats, compasses hidden in buttons and booby-trapped camel dung remains prized by the secret services.

"One of the more urgent requirements of secret agents are tiny but powerful and long-lasting batteries to power the equipment they use.... A further area likely to be investigated by the new Q is use of nanotechnology for spying, as the art of miniaturisation gets down to molecular level."

This isn't quite my area of expertise. But if it's yours, see The Times article for more details on how to apply.

Judicial Nominations

I wasn't going to post anything today at lunchtime. Too much to do today, trying to get ready for our department to move locations over the weekend. But Hugh Hewitt made the Senators' email contacts too easy, and I sent a message to both of my Senators (Boxer & Feinstein -- what a losing combination!) and to Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist. Here's what I told them:

Almost identical messages to Boxer & Feinstein:

Sen. Boxer/Feinstein,

I urge you and your colleagues to stop blocking the votes of the President's judicial nominations. When Bill Clinton was president, the Democrats made a big show of demanding that all his nominations get an up or down vote. Well, that demand is still just as valid today as it was under Pres. Clinton.

Let the President's nominations get a vote on the Senate floor. If you reject them, fine. Just vote.

When you and your party derail the workings of the Senate, then there's no point in your being there. Obstruction will result in your replacement.

Will they get the message? Doubtful, especially Boxer, who never ever ever listens to her constituents. Ever. Unless they're way, way, way Hard Left. Feinstein listens on occasion.

Then I wrote to Senator Frist, who isn't obstructing the way the Democrats are, but whose attempts at compromise are amounting to cooperation with obstruction. What's the difference?!?

Sen. Frist,

The leading Democrats have made it clear they WILL obstruct the President's nominations and are even considering filibustering John Bolton and presumably any Supreme Court nominations. The time for seeking a compromise is over, because the Democrats will not compromise.

The Republican leadership, starting with you, must act NOW to change the cloture rule for presidential nominees and get these and future nominees the vote they deserve. If you dither any more than you already have, your support will start hemorraging. For the first time ever, I gave money in 2004 to John Thune's campaign, President Bush, and Bill Jones (vs. Sen Boxer). But if the Republicans don't grow a spine and grow it soon, I will have to consider that money wasted, and you Republicans won't see another dime from me.

We elected you to pursue the programs President Bush campaigned on, especially getting some sound judges on the appellate courts to counteract the lunacy of the left-wing judges. If you can't find the guts to get the job done, then you can kiss a presidential bid goodbye, and we'll find somebody who does have a spine.

Do it now, Sen. Frist. Do it now.

That about sums it up. I'm fed up with the Democrats running the Senate, when we elected Republicans to run the show. The Republicans can either do what we elected them to do, or they can make room for someone who will.

Update:

Here's what I sent to Senator John McCain, who is expected to announce that he will vote against changing the cloture rules. Similar to what I sent to Frist, but with some key differences.

Sen. McCain,

The leading Democrats have made it clear they WILL obstruct the President's nominations and are even considering filibustering John Bolton and presumably any Supreme Court nominations. The time for seeking a compromise is over, because the Democrats will not compromise.

The Republican leadership, including you, must act NOW to change the cloture rule for presidential nominees and get these and future nominees the vote they deserve. Your dithering and leaning toward the postion of the Democrats is counterproductive. For the first time ever, I gave money in 2004 to John Thune's campaign, President Bush, and Bill Jones (vs. Sen Boxer). But if the Republicans don't grow a spine and grow it soon, I will have to consider that money wasted, and you Republicans won't see another dime from me.

We elected Republicans to pursue the programs President Bush campaigned on, especially getting some sound judges on the appellate courts to counteract the lunacy of the left-wing judges. The idea that if you change the cloture rules now, it could hurt you when you're in the minority is ironic. Because, if you DON'T change the rules now, you WILL find yourselves in the minority very soon.

If you can't find the guts to get the job done, then you can kiss a presidential bid goodbye, and we'll find somebody who does have a spine.

Do it now, Sen. McCain. Do it now.

Our Military

"SARANAC LAKE, N.Y.--There are no longer generators running, or armored vehicles rumbling, or mortars exploding, and the roar of the silence is deafening to me. What I hear at night now is the gentle breaths released from the perfect lips of my sons. The same lips that I cannot kiss enough. The lips that make my eyes fill with tears every time they touch my cheeks."

So begins a column in the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page, by Greg Moore. It's a beautiful piece about a soldier coming home from Iraq and the importance of his family. I recommend reading the whole thing.

What stands out for me, in addition to what Moore has to say, is the way this reveals the lie that's told by the Left (Schumer? Kennedy? The sound clips are running around my head, but I can't quite identify them.) that the military is manned by the hopeless poor who are unable to get a real job. Yes, Greg Moore is a member of the National Guard, which implies that he has a day job. But the quality of his writing reveals the kind of character and clear-headedness I see in the Marines who attend my church in Southern California.

Our military is not full of the oppressed, slack-jawed dolts that the Left would like us to believe. It is made up of strong, intelligent men and women who know their duty and strive to fulfill it honorably.

Another example of the quality of our military is David Rozelle, who lost a leg in Iraq and fought to come back to active duty, and is serving in Iraq again. His book, "Back in Action: An American Soldier's Story of Courage, Faith and Fortitude" tells the story.

I can't say enough about our military. And I can't thank them and their families enough for the sacrifices they make so that our nation and others can remain free.

May the Lord God bless them all.

Pope John Paul II & Communism

To start, I need to say that I'm a Never-Catholic. I was raised as a Protestant and always felt sorry for the Catholic kids who had to go to catechism after school, while I got to go home and play.

So the Pope has never been mine. I've seen the papacy of John Paul II as an outsider, but I respected the strong stands he took for the pro-life position of the Catholic church in the midst of global pressure to bend (or break) on these issues.

What I wasn't aware of was his stand against Communism. (Another disclaimer while I'm at it: I was raised by the public school system to be a liberal, feminist, anti-nuke (power & weapons), anti-big-business, pro-choice, rabid environmentalist. I grew up and came to my senses over time, but not until Bush-41's presidency, so I missed the whole Reagan fervor when it happened.)

When I watched the Reagan funeral and listened to the speeches and read the commentaries on his legacy, I got the impression that Communism was defeated by President Reagan, with a little help from British Prime Minister Thatcher. I don't remember hearing about the Pope's contribution at the time of Reagan's funeral.

Now, though, Pope John Paul's anti-Communist position is front-and-center in much of the coverage. And the best column I've read about it is Peggy Noonan's excellent piece for the Wall Street Journal Opinion page.

She says, "But I think I know the moment Soviet communism began its fall. It happened in public. Anyone could see it. It was one of the great spiritual moments of the 20th century, maybe the greatest.

"It was the first week in June 1979. "

This pre-dates Reagan and happened only a month after Thatcher became Prime Minister.

Noonan continues, "On June 2, 1979, the pope arrived in Poland. What followed will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

"He knelt and kissed the ground, the dull gray tarmac of the airport outside Warsaw. The silent churches of Poland at that moment began to ring their bells. The pope traveled by motorcade from the airport to the Old City of Warsaw.

"The government had feared hundreds or thousands or even tens of thousands would line the streets and highways.

"By the end of the day, with the people lining the streets and highways plus the people massed outside Warsaw and then inside it--all of them cheering and throwing flowers and applauding and singing--more than a million had come."

"The pope had not directly challenged the government. He had not called for an uprising. He had not told the people of Catholic Poland to push back against their atheist masters. He simply stated the obvious. In Mr. Weigel's words: 'Poland was not a communist country; Poland was a Catholic nation saddled with a communist state.'"

There is so much more in her column, all of it beautifully written. I recommend reading every word. More than once.

He was not my pope, but he was a man who carved his mark for Good on the world's stage, and I admire him for that.

May he rest in peace.

God Save Our Schools

The mind boggles sometimes at what's going on in the public schools. Here are two articles about some of that.

The first involves, of course, the ACLU and its relentless pursuit of the removal of God from the public square. According to the article, "The ACLU expressed outrage that, when Shane Tycer took the microphone to pray before the ballgame when the regular announcer was late, no school officials tried to stop him." They (the ACLU) have asked the courts to fine the Tangipahoa Parish School Board or throw one or more of them in jail over the incident.

My favorite quote from the article is, "'Public schools should be kept inclusive and secular in keeping with our founders’ ideas for religious liberty for all,' Cook said." Cook is Joe Cook, executive director of ACLU of Louisiana.

The logic of this statement is stunning. According to the ACLU's alternate reality, the Founding Fathers of our country felt so strongly about religious liberty that they wanted public schools (which didn't exist then) to be kept secular. By erasing religion from all public forums, we ensure religious liberty for all. This makes perfect sense, in the same way that "WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH," and "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" make sense.

The second story is one that I've heard before. School officials are concerned that the use of red ink by teachers on student assignments is traumatic to children. So they're switching to other colors, especially purple.

The thing that makes this article a little different from previous ones is that this time it was parents who complained about the red ink. "Red writing, they said, was 'stressful.'"
"'The color is everything,' said Foriska, an educator for 31 years." Another teacher, Justin Kazmark, said, "Purple is just a little bit more gentle."

It can only be the public educational system that brings people to conclude that red is stressful and purple is gentle. I have no doubts that twenty years from now, these same educators will be shocked to discover that children find purple to be a traumatic color.

It's not the color, it's what it's used for that brings the emotional association.

God save our schools.

Butterflies

The new carpet came last Thursday. I spent most of my spare time in March either mentally or physically getting things off the carpeted part of the floor. My commute time was heavily taken up trying to decide which things would fit in the kitchen or one of the bathrooms and which things would have to go into the storage unit I rented just for the new carpet.

Wednesday night my daughter and I moved the most of the non-essential heavy stuff out into the driveway, blocked from casual view by the cars. Bright and too early Thursday morning, with the help of a friend, we got the rest moved. The back door and laundry area were completely blocked with boxes, then the TV. The rack of DVDs got moved into the kitchen, blocked in by the piano, and then the couch that has recliners at each end and is too heavy to get outside. And my bathroom was so full of stuff, it was unusable. We kept my daughter's bathroom available.

But once everything was off the carpet, what a glorious day! There was nothing we could do but sit outside in our office chairs in the shade and watch the butterflies go by. We took our little dog, Abby, for a walk heading south along the street as the butterflies flew north. Flocks of Monarchs came at us, making a starburst pattern as the breeze blew them around and behind us. It was exhilarating.

After our walk, we napped in our chairs, Abby on my lap, and at 3:00, I got in the car to listen to Hugh. That's when I heard that Terri Schiavo had finally passed away, and I thought about her and the butterflies, about transformation and a glorified body in heaven.

And then the installers finished, and we had to move everything back in the house from outside. By the time we finished, it was late, and I had bruises at my wrists and on my knees and up one thigh. I got my daughter's bed put together and my box spring and mattress thrown on the floor, and I hit the sack so I could get up at 5:00 Friday morning to go to work.

It was like that in March: Full of Terri Schiavo and also getting ready for carpet. Full of the most crucial issues of life and also the mundane.

Now, as I go through April, I don't want the mundane to win.

Patron Saint of Blogging

Hugh Hewitt has mentioned that there isn't yet a patron saint of blogging. He offered St. Augustine of Hippo as the obvious choice, because of his prolific writing (Confessions, City of God, etc.) He also likes St. Hugh of Lincoln, but that's just vanity.

Personally, after having listened to How the Irish Saved Civilization on tape, I like St. Columba. He was a bard, a miracle worker, and legend has it that he wrote 300 books. He is also the patron saint of bookbinders and poets. Through his and his fellow monks' work at the abbey of Iona in Ireland and beyond, Western Civilization's writings were preserved and spread throughout Europe during the Dark Ages, so that they were still available to help spur and inspire the Renaissance.

Aren't these the descriptions of bloggers? Bards, poets, miracle workers, people whose work has the potential to save civilization.

I give you St. Columba, the patron saint of blogging!

Terri Schiavo XI

I had carpet installed this past Thursday and had to have everything off the carpeted areas ahead of time. So from Wednesday afternoon until Friday night, I had no TV, and I still don't have the internet re-hooked up at home (I was out of town over the weekend). The news about Terri's death and then Pope John-Paul II went unblogged by me (although I have to thank the rest of the blogosphere for filling in for me).

Here is the link to the Schindler family's statement following Terri's death. I can't begin to imagine their loss, and I'm impressed by their gracious thanks to so many people.

At the same time, I can't begin to imagine what compelled the people who argued that Terri's feeding tube should be pulled. It's a testament to how much our society has changed that these people got such sympathetic treatment by the news media.

If we go back far enough, say before WWII, society (including the universities, the government, and the news media) promoted the value of all life. These institutions and their leaders may not have been religious themselves, but they supported the Judeo-Christian worldview. Society frowned on unwed mothers, divorce, and juvenile delinquents. They locked up abortion providers and mercy killers.

After WWII, things began to change. People who held an anti-Judeo-Christian worldview began to gain leadership positions in the nation's universities, government, judiciary, and especially the news media. And the pillars of a life-affirming society began to crumble.

The difference between the people who wanted Terri's feeding tube kept in and those who wanted it pulled is their worldview. Those who see the world as created by God, with mankind created in His image and having a spirit, value any life as worth living and worth protecting. Those who see the world as being material in its totality--whatever is tangible or measurable is real, the spiritual realm is a delusion--see life as having value when it's useful or productive. For these latter people, Terri stopped being productive and became a drain on resources, and her life stopped being worthwhile to society.

These material-believing people are the ones who predominate in the educational system, teaching our children and young adults a godless view of life. They dominate the mainstream media, allowing a voice only to those who agree with them, and this helps to promote their values over the traditional Judeo-Christian values. And for the people who hold traditional values, it starts to seems as though all of society has gone to the other side.

Terri was important for her own sake. She was a woman who loved and was loved by her family, and whose story touched so many other lives. But she was also important because she became the catalyst to show our nation what we are becoming--a country divided over how it values life.

I have medical instructions (it's not really a Living Will, because Living Wills are normally designed to say NOT to recussitate or take extreme measures) that say to absolutely take whatever extraordinary measures are available to keep me alive, and especially to never, never pull a feeding/hydration tube. I don't believe that withholding food and water is moral/right/ethical/whatever word you want to use. I set up these instructions seven years ago, because I was already concerned that my life could be at risk if I didn't.

What I don't have is an organ donor card. I've also been concerned for years that if I had one and was seriously injured, that the medical community might see my organs as more important to somebody else than to me. With a lot of the discussion going on around Terri Schiavo, this looks to me like it's becoming more of a risk.

Even Laura Bush has spoken about the importance of having a Living Will, but as this article says, the Campaign for Children and Families, advises against a Living Will and argues in favor of using the "Will to Live" form. "'California's living will law assumes you want to be starved or dehydrated to death,' said CCF President Randy Thomasson. 'This is frightening. Most people don't know that signing the standard advance directive form could sentence you to a horrible death, by your own hand or someone else's.'"

If you want to be kept alive, look into the Will to Live form.